Hint of Hope
by bearbaitbrook
Summary: One shot from both Ron and Hermione's POV during the "Night of the Seven Potters".


**New story! A one shot going between Ron and Hermione's POV's during the chapter about the Seven Harry's.**

**Disclaimer: Anything remotely familiar is probably not mine. It most likely came from the brain of JK Rowling!**

**Reviews are greatly appreciated!**

"Does everyone know the plan?" Moody growled at the ragtag group sitting around the Weasley's kitchen table. "Everything must go according to plan tonight. One more time, just to be on the safe side. Dung and I will take the lead, followed by Miss Granger and Kingsley on a thestral, Ron and Nymphadora on brooms, and Fred and Arthur, also on brooms. Then Hagrid and Harry on the bike, followed by George and Remus on brooms, and Bill and Fleur on thestrals. Any questions?" he asked, his magical eye swirling wildly in its socket.

Everyone looked blankly around the table, as if willing each other to ask something. Finally, Hermione timidly spoke up. "Harry's not going to take this idea well- the thought of thirteen people putting themselves in danger by either looking like him or protecting him and the look a-likes."

"He's not" Ron agreed.

"We will use force if verbal persuasion doesn't work, Miss Granger. But I would rather it not come to that. Things are going to go a lot smoother if Mr. Potter is on board with this whole operation. Alright? Everyone clear?" He paused, looked through every face sitting around the long table, and nodded. "Good. Be ready to leave in a half an hour."

Then he stumbled out of the room, followed by every member of the party, excepting Ron and Hermione.

"You ready for this?" she asked quietly, not meeting Ron's eyes. "So much can go wrong!"

"So much can go right, too, Hermione."

"But what if… what if…" she looked into his deep blue eyes, conveying quite clearly to him her deepest fear.

"Every single one of the people going on this mission are coming back" he whispered firmly, trying to convince himself of it as much as her. "We are all capable of doing this successfully. Besides- no one knows that Harry's being moved tonight. What could go wrong?"

"I just have a feeling… I'm probably being silly…"

"You are" he laughed. "How could you just 'have a feeling' like that?"

"It's a woman's thing, Ron. How else did your mum always know what Fred and George were, and still are, up to?"

"She doesn't. She had no bloody clue, half the time."

"Yes, she did know. It's a girl thing."

"Hermione, just relax. We're going to be fine."

"I hope you're right" she replied, standing up and nervously pacing the floor.

As he too stood, he placed his large hand on her shoulder and said "I know I am."

She took his hand shyly and looked into his eyes. "Just promise me something."

"Anything."

"Come back tonight. Your family needs you. Harry needs you…" She paused and looked down before adding quietly "I need you."

"I'll promise if you'll promise, Hermione."

She nodded and together they said "I promise I'll come back."

Ron suddenly pulled her into a tight hug. "Take care of yourself tonight, Mione. For me…"

Hermione's heart stopped. "Does he really like me as more than a sister?" she wondered.

"…And for Harry. We both need you."

Her heart returned to a somewhat normal speed, and she pulled out of his embrace.

"When have I ever not done that, Ronald?" she asked in a slightly harsh voice.

Ron looked taken aback. "I didn't mean it like that… oh, never mind. We should probably get ready."

"Yeah, let's go."

They both left the room slightly red faced, eager to be out of the awkward situation, and yet not ready to leave each other.

* * *

><p>"Am I just imagining things, or is Ron standing closer to me than normal?" Hermione thought nervously as they stood in the yard awaiting an order from Moody.<p>

"She's really close- just do it Ron- grab her hand, hug her, hell, snog her!" he thought as he watched the way the afternoon sunlight lit up Hermione's face. Despite all that he'd said trying to convince her otherwise, he wondered if it would be a site he would ever see again after tonight.

But before he could act on the impulse he had to pull her into his arms and just hold her, Moody called "All Potters with the protectors, be ready to go at the signal."

Hermione began to move towards Kingsley, but Ron grabbed her elbow and pulled her into another embrace. "Stay safe" he whispered, before releasing her and getting onto a broom next to Tonk's.

"You too!" she called back from where she sat on a thestral, behind Kingsley.

"I promise" they both mouthed, slight smiles lighting up their faces.

* * *

><p>For Hermione, the rest of the night went past in a blur. She vaguely remembered walking through the doors of Number Four, Privet Drive, or urging Harry to let them protect him. She remembered sitting on the back of a thestral with Kingsley, waiting for the signal to go, looking at Harry, and Fred, George, Bill, Fleur… and Ron- especially Ron- hoping and praying that she would see them all again at the designated time and place by the end of the night.<p>

A gasp of shock from Kingsley jolted her back to reality, and she soon realized why he'd made the sound. Whipping out her wand, she began firing curses at the Death Eaters lying in wait for them in a patch of clouds.

"Hold on" Kingsley muttered, holding onto the thestral with one hand, shooting stunning spells with the other. "This is going to be a bumpy ride."

They swooped through the night on the wings on an animal only those experienced in Death could see, avoiding streaks of green and red.

Twice, she ducked only just in time to avoid by a few centimeters a green flash zooming her way.

"Remus' place isn't far now. And it looks like we've seen the las t of them…" Kingsley reassured him as the flock of Death Eaters seemed to clear, leaving them only with a starry sky above and the country side below.  
>The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when another black hooded figure caught up to them.<p>

Hermione raised her wand to shoot a spell, and stooped, stunned to see that the figure wasn't riding a broom. It was flying… and then, it lowered its hood, and Hermione came face to face with Lord Voldemort.

She sat, frozen in fear as he raised his wand, not loosing speed for even a second. He pointed it at her.

"I'm sorry I'm not coming back, Ron. I'm really sorry" Hermione thought wildly. Then "What are you doing- you have too many things to fight for to die! Curse him- hex him into oblivion- stun him, you idiot!"

But before she could act, Voldemort disappeared as suddenly as he'd appeared.

Kingsley let out a sigh of relief. "That'll be something to tell your kids, Hermione. And there's Remus' place."

He pointed to a small cottage on the edge of the woods. The passed through the protective enchantments, and the thestral landed gracefully on the path leading to the front door.

"Stay here" Kingsley told her before she could enter. Opening the door, he stepped inside and called out "Homenum Revelio!"

A moment later he called "Alright. You can come in. I had to check for intruders. If they knew Harry was being moved tonight, who knows how much else they knew?"

"Right" she agreed as she stepped into the dimly lit room. Her breathing was slightly sporadic, and she could feel herself shaking from head to foot. As her eyes adjusted to the lack of light inside the home, she noticed how sparsely furnished it was- a sofa, a table, a few chairs. A vase of flowers sitting upon the table, and a picture hanging in a richly colored frame suggested a feminine touch, added by Tonks.

"We have twenty minutes our porkey leaves" Kingsley said. "Are you hurt?"

"No- just a few scratches. I'll be fine until we get back to the Burrow."

"Alright, then. I'm going to keep watch outside. I don't like how close the Death Eaters were to our protective enchantments."

Hermione nodded as he went to the door, and stood on the doorstop, his face pointed at the sky.

For the first time, she really had time to think about what had happened that night. "How did they know?" she muttered as she sat down on the old, slightly sagging sofa. "How did they know we were moving Harry tonight?"

Her eyes fell upon the picture hanging upon the wall- the only wall with anything upon it. Tonks and Lupin stood in it together, his arms around her middle in a loving and protective manner, smiles and looks of love lighting up both of their faces as their lips met.

How Hermione longed to have someone- Ron- look at her- touch her- kiss her in that way. Just thinking about him felt like someone was shooting a knife into her stomach. Nothing had went according to plan, and "I have no way of knowing who's alive, or hurt, or…" she couldn't bring herself to think about the last word, knowing that it was her friends and second family that it could possibly apply to.

"He promised. He promised" she repeated, the mantra doing a small bit for her courage.

* * *

><p>"The Portkey's set to leave in a minute and a half. Best get ready" Kingsley said, startling Hermione away from her thoughts. He pointed to a bent and rusted coat hanger lying on the kitchen table; each went to it and grabbed onto a bit of it, preparing for the jerking sensation that was sure to come.<p>

"Three, two, one" Kingsley counted, before they were flying through air, the hanger the only real, material thing in the world.

And just as suddenly as it started, the feeling stopped, and Hermione felt herself land rather hardly on a patch of dirt outside of the Burrow's kitchen.

She sighed a sigh of relief as she saw Harry appear with Lupin from the kitchen door, knowing that they were all back to their normal appearances. She flung herself into his arms, holding on tightly.

"Who else is back?" Kingsley asked Lupin a small distance away.

"Only Harry, Hagrid, George, and me" Lupin replied.

Hermione pressed her hands to her mouth as she moaned. "Ron…" she thought. "He was supposed to be back before me and Kingsley. All those Death Eaters…"

"… Harry behaved a little too kindly to Stan Shunpike" she heard Lupin say. A shock echoed in her head. "Stan? But I thought he was in Azkaban?" she asked, saying it out loud without realizing it.

"Hermione, they're obviously been a mass breakout which the Ministry has hushed up. Travers' hood fell off when I cursed him, he's supposed to be inside, too" Kingsley said. "But what happened to you, Remus? Where's George?"

"He lost an ear" Lupin replied.

"Lost an-?" Hermione asked, not able to believe what Lupin had just said.

"Snape's work" Lupin said grimly.

"Snape?" shouted harry. "You didn't say-"

"He lost his hood during the chase…" Lupin told Harry.

They continued their conversation, but Hermione had stopped listening. George had always been like an older brother to her. "We can't lose him! And if something could happen to him, something could have happened to Bill or Fleur or Fred or Mr. Weasley, or Mad-Eye, or Dung, or Tonks! Something could have happened to Ron!"

As each moment passed, the possibility of this became greater and greater.

She looked up into the sky, and her heart leapt as she saw two red headed figures appear in the sky. But her spirits fell as quickly as they'd lifted. It was Mr. Weasley, and Fred, who immediately dashed into the house, followed by Kingsley.

And so the vigil began. Kingsley joined her, Hagrid, and Lupin in watching the sky for a hint of hope. Harry and Ginny joined them a few minutes later.

* * *

><p>Finally, after minutes that seemed like hours, another broom appeared above them in the sky- even in the darkness, Hermione could make out a head of ginger hair, and a head of hot pink.<p>

"It's them!" she screamed, the happiest she'd felt all day. As the broom came closer, she could see that neither of it's riders seemed to be injured.

The broom came to a stop and Ron jumped off, white faced and slightly shaking. Hermione felt rooted to the spot, content just to look at him, to soak in his red hair, his lean and lanky form, his beautiful blue eyes. But it wasn't enough. He seemed too perfect- "he could be an apparition" she thought.

Without giving herself a millisecond to rationalize her thought processes, she ran past Tonks, and threw herself into Ron's arms. As soon as she felt his warm breathing body, she knew he was real. His arms closed around her in a tight, protective embrace she stuttered "I thought- I thought…" She couldn't bring herself to say the words- something that Ron understood.

"M'all right" he said, gently rubbing her back. "I promised, didn't I?" he said just loud enough for Hermione to hear.

"Ron was great!" Tonks said from somewhere in the distance. "Wonderful. Stunned one of the Death Eaters, straight to the head, and when you're aiming at a moving target, from a flying broom-"

"You did?" Hermione asked, pulling away from Ron's arms to look at him. She immediately missed the warmth of his body next to hers. She regretted her words, since he completely broke away and said "Always the tone of surprise."

But then, Harry was rushing at the both of them, and she found herself crushed between the two boys- her boys.


End file.
